Champion
by pyrosau
Summary: Yet another "Taylor gets a different power" story. This time, what happens if she is gifted with the modular, mechanistic awesome that is the Bio-Alchemical Exaltation?
1. Chapter 1

It all started with a package. I arrived home from another wonderful day at school, where this time the flavor of the day was "let's coat Taylor's history chair with glue", to find a package on the dinner table. It was wrapped in brown plastic, and had my name typed on the top. I looked at it for a few minutes before I shrugged and opened it. Inside were two sheets of plastic, and a box made from metal, with a bronze gear symbol indented on the top. The first sheet was a short letter that read:

_Taylor Hebert. After observing your manifold versions, I know you will use this gift well._

It was then signed with several hieroglyphs that, while they looked Aztec, I some how knew were much older. The second sheet had more of the hieroglyphs. Shrugging again, I opened the box. Inside was a clear crystal the size of my thumb nestled in velvet. I picked it up, intending to look at it. However, as soon as I touched it my mind blanked and an impulse made me press the gem -_ soulstone - _to the center of my forehead. As soon as I did, _I remembered. _

_I took up my father's rifle, that he had brought home from fighting in the Great War. While I did end up dying, I managed to delay the Nazis long enough for the children to escape._

_The Chief had died during the night. No one else stepped up, so I led the tribe down the Trail of Tears to our new lands._

_The Voivod successfully led us to victory over the Turks. We both knew who's plan won us the day, but I never did expect recognition._

Hundreds of memories played, through all eras of history, many of them with me _doing what needed to be done, no matter the cost._ And then they stopped, and I found myself in a dark room. At the edge of my sight were pipes, and I could hear the hum of (_centrifugal pumps), _the clattering of (_positive displacement pumps),_ the roar of (_steam turbines),_ and hiss of (_pneumatic valves)._ It was... comforting. In front of me floated three menus. The left and center menus (labeled "Installed Charms" and "Charm Library", respectively) were empty, while the right menu ("Available Charms") had a long list. Touching the edge of the menu allowed me to scroll down, while selecting a charm gave me a description. Some of the charms were weirdly specific ("Tunnel Fighting Omnibus"? Where would fighting in tunnels be so common that it would need a specific power?), others were brutal ("Memory Reweaving Spike"? Really?), and some just plain weird. However, most of the rest seemed more useful. I must have spent an hour or so just reading through the description before choosing. The first ten charms I chose moved across into both of the other menus, while the next two only went into my Library. As I chose my 12th charm, I instinctively knew that I couldn't handle any more right now and that I could swap any of the charms in my Library. Satisfied with my choices, I returned to the real world only to find my father looking at me with concern.

"Taylor," he said. "What _happened_ to you?"


	2. Chapter 2

Worm is owned by Wildbow, and Exalted is owned by White Wolf Games Studio.

"This is talking."

_This is thinking._

_(These are technical terms being fed by Taylor's Exaltation)_

_Charms/Artifact Names_

/

"Oh, hey dad," I said, taking off my now redundant glasses and looking at him. "How was work?"

"Normal," he replied curtly. "Don't change the subject. You were standing staring into space and ignoring the world for at least the last 10 minutes, and then you grow crystals out of your forehead and wake up. Your hair has changed colour, your skin is paler, and you've filled out from this morning. Don't get me wrong, the new look is amazing. But. What. Happened. To. You?"

"Dad, I'm fine. In fact, I feel better than I have been in a long time. Here, read this," I said, handing him the letter written in English. "When I got home, there was a package on the table. These letters were inside, and there was a crystal in the box. When I touched the crystal, I Trig-" (_Exalted)_ "-Exalted. I know the letter doesn't explain much, but that bit about the 'Manifold versions'? I think that has something to do with the theory of Multiple Earths. Kind of like how Earth Aleph is a version of our world, just without capes. Whomever sent that to me must be able to see multiple worlds, and must know there is something big coming. And that I'm going to be in a place to affect the outcome? Gah, too many variables," I continued, before taking the letter back again and blinking. I could read the symbols at the bottom.

"Divine Minister Kadmek? Humble sounding guy. Anyway, don't worry about me getting hurt. At the moment, most of my powers are based around gathering information, so I'm not going out to be a hero any time soon. First, I have a lot of research to do before I even think of going out, some training to do, and equipment to buy. And a bank account – I can boost my intelligence, one of my charms gives me high speed internet access with my mind, and another called an _Imprinted Data Cluster_ allows me to temporarily become a specialist in anything I choose. With them, I should be able to make some money on the share market. It'll be a fine line between making enough money to be useful, and not tripping any Tinker/Thinker protection they have, though. But I'll make you a promise – I'll fully armour up before patrolling, I'll let you know every time I go out, and I'll get a phone so I can contact you if I need to. Oh, and I'm claiming the basement. I'll clean it out, and use it as a workshop."

"Uhh. And that... stuff growing out of you? Won't people notice?" Dad said, looking somewhat out of depth from my explanation.

"As for my Charms, watch this." I said, activating my _Integrated_ _Artefact Transmogrifier_ with a smile, causing all overt signs of my Exaltation to neatly slide beneath my skin with a ticklish feeling and my dad to gape in surprise. "Hehehe, you look overwhelmed by it all. Tell you what, you sit down and I'll cook dinner. I want to see how my Charms interact with real-world situations."

It turns out using _Augments_ while cooking makes Spaghetti Bolognese taste amazing.

/

As the next day was Saturday, I spent it cleaning out the basement. It was easier than I expected – being nearly inexhaustible and able to easily carry over a hundred pounds helped. Once that chore was finished, I spent an hour opening myself to the martial arts katas stored in my _Sixth Dexterity Augmentation_ before returning upstairs to clean up. Looking at myself in the mirror as I stepped out of the shower, I realised dad was right. I did look amazing. Gone was the spindly, plain looking teenager. My hair had changed from brown to a jet black that had very dark green undertones in the right light. My skin had paled, becoming almost alabaster. My eyes had changed to the same dark green as the undertones in my hair, my lips were a shocking ruby red, my body was lined with strips of some black metal (_soulsteel)_, and an oval gem the same colour as my hair in the centre of my forehead. And I had curves now. While the whole effect was somewhat eerie, and very gothic, it worked.

_Hmmm. I need a new wardrobe. Yet another thing to add to the list._ I thought, looking at myself for a few more seconds before dressing, grabbing a notebook from my room and then heading downstairs.

Dad was sitting in the living room, watching a documentary about capes. He looked over as I approached.

"Hey kid," he said.

"Hey Dad," I replied, moving to the couch and lying down with my notebook on my chest. "Interesting show?" I asked.

"Kind of, in an 'Oh crap, what has my daughter gotten herself into?' kind of way," he replied. "I knew capes had amazing powers, but some of them are something else. According to this show, one of the local gang leaders, Lung, fought Leviathan on even terms once? Are you sure you want to do this? Fight people like him, the Endbringers, the Slaughterhouse Nine, or whatever?"

"_Yes_, dad. How does that Earth Aleph quote go? With great power comes great responsibility? I want to use this power to protect people. Anyway, wouldn't you rather I told you about this instead of going behind your back?"

"Why not join the Wards, then?"

"I probably will, though that will be one of the topics I will be researching. I want to see how they treat their members, how they pay, what the local Wards are like before I join, and what sort of support they provide. Things like that. Anyway, even if I don't join the Ward's I'll co-operate with the police and PRT."

"Oh, well then. You seem to have thought it through, though I do still say you should go to a hospital or something."

"Yep. I have. And dad, I'm fine."

We then lapsed into a comfortable silence, Dad watching TV while I used my _Metanural Upload Link_ to surf the internet for information on the local parahumans, cape laws, and anything else that grabbed my attention. The experience was fun, if somewhat weird, with the cursor and windows flitting around my vision by concentrating on them.

Sunday was spent shopping for new clothes, and then experimenting with my powers. It turned out that when I swap charms, I lose most of my powers for five hours per charm I swap, while it only takes an hour of lost power to change the information in my _Imprinted Data Cluster__._

The next week was school. After jogging to school, I spent the day with a live feed of the stock market in the top right of my vision, where I watched it and tried to work out any patterns I could exploit. I also avoided the banes of my life, namely my ex-best friend Emma Barnes, and her friends Sophia Hess and Madison Clements, excluding a few times that I used to start to bait a trap I was setting up. Due to my improved abilities, this was significantly easier than before my Exaltation. Of course, my newly improved senses made it easier to hear the whispers behind my back about my changed appearance. "Boob job" got bandied about a fair bit, as did "Emo Freak". Still, it was somewhat less than what I have had to deal with over the previous year and a bit, so, while hurtful, I ignored it. Evenings were spent training, researching, and planning, as was the next weekend.

It was during this time, I found that I had two pools of (_essence_), one large (_peripheral essence pool_) and one small (_personal essence pool_). Spending a couple of (_motes_) of the larger pool caused my soulgem and any active charms to start glowing. Spend more, and the glow (_anima banner_) gets brighter, my Charms start emitting smoke streaked with dark green lightning, ghostly faces and handprints appear in the souslteel of my body, and I start leaving flakes of soulsteel behind. Eventually, the smoke coalesces into my (_Iconic banner_): a mechanical Lady Justice that follows my movements. It then takes several hours for the glow to recede completely. I'm glad that I had blackened out the windows of the basement before trying that experiment, because the glow is bright. Like, spotlight in an empty field on a moonless night bright.

By Sunday, I was sure enough of myself to start buying my first shares. I picked out the shares I wanted, and used a website to set it up so that they were bought as soon as trading opened on Monday. Most of the shares I bought were ones I expected to make a good earning quite quickly, though I did promise myself to spend some of my money on shares that would stabilise, if not improve, Brockton Bay's economy.

Monday was school again. Unlike last week, as I started to approach the locker room I smelt a horrible stench in the air. With a grimace, I channelled a small surge of essence to activate the metal nerves that made up my _Fifth Dexterity Augmentation_. While not enough to cause the Charm to start sparking, it was enough to make me noticeably more graceful as I glided into the locker room and approached my locker, concentrating on my surroundings. It was full of rotting garbage, as I had expected as soon as I smelt the miasma. Had I not been Exalted, the stench would have probably caused me to vomit. As it was, I used one of the benefits of my altered state and just stopped breathing. As I stood there, looking in my locker in disgust, I heard someone running behind me. Neatly stepping to one side, my unexpected reaction caused Sophia to stumble and put her hands into – _through_ – the mess. As I saw this, my eyes narrowed.

_Sophia just phased through stuff. _I thought. _From my research, the only local parahuman who can do that is one of the Wards, Shadow Stalker. Well, that explains a few things. They've been protecting the school Ward. I wonder if the PRT knows?_

Leaning down to pick Sophia up, I whispered in her ear. "I saw that, Shadow Stalker. Play along, or else." I got a glare in response, confirming my theory.

"Why Sophia, thanks for trying to stop me from falling in. It's almost like you knew about this in advance. You're a real _hero._" I said, loud enough for the crowd that had gathered to hear, using my _First Manipulation Augmentation_to thread a touch of essence through my words, giving them the right intonation to sway the crowd to my side. This caused most of the crowd laugh, and Emma to twitch at the emphasis I put on the word "hero". Strangely, my essence pool refilled slightly as the crowd reacted.

_And that explains much of the rest. That boost of essence was interesting, though. Think about it later. _I thought, as I saw her reaction.

"I'm sure you'll continue the good deeds and help me clean this crap up, right Sophia?" I continued.

"Yes." Came the grudging, hate filled response.

"I'll help too," chimed Emma.

"No thanks. Sophia may be an evil sadist, but at least she never betrayed me. Hey, Mr Gladly," I said, dismissing her and looking at a teacher who had just walked over to see what the disturbance was, and causing another laugh from the crowd. Though, as I turned away I noticed a look of _hurt_ on her face that I needed to spend another mote of essence through my _First_ _Manipulation Augmentation_ to over-ride my reaction, and control it nothing more than an internal "_Huh?_" and a promise to think over what the hell I had just seen.

"Is something the matter, Taylor?" the teacher said as he approached, grimacing as the smell hit him.

"Oh, nothing much. Someone filled my locker full of... stuff. Sophia has been kind enough to offer to help me clean it up. You know where we can get some garbage bags and gloves from?" I replied, with Sophia shooting me another glare.

"Umm, sure," he said, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Sophia glaring at me, obviously wondering how I had managed to pull that off. "You can speak to the janitor to get bags and gloves. I'll write out a pass so that you two can go back home and clean up after this."

"Great!" I replied. Turning to Sophia, I said "Thanks for your help, _hero._ You mind coming with me to get gloves so we can clean this stuff up?"

"Fine." She ground out in reply, following me as I shut my locker and walked away. The crowd, seeing the show was obviously over and wanting to get away from the smell, started to filter away.

I didn't say anything as we walked towards the janitor's office, letting her stew while I thought over what I wanted. Yes, it was petty, but hey, she had just tried to trap me in a locker. We returned to my locker just as the bell for first period rang.

After a few minutes of silently shovelling the garbage out of my locker into the bag, Sophia exploded.

"What the _fuck_ do you want, Hebert?!" she all but yelled at me.

"Wow. You really do have some anger issues there, Shadow Stalker. No wonder you nearly killed that guy," I replied quietly. "Now, I'll be doing two things for you. I won't be sending emails to the heads of the local PRT, Protectorate, and Wards containing the video of you trying to push me into that locker or videos of your other attempts to bully me over this last week. I also won't be giving an anonymous interview with a number of blogs about how the Wards are aiding your campaign of terror. Even if it gets shut down, the backlash will be disastrous for you. Probably enough to get you investigated, and then sent to Juvie, from what I read on probationary Wards."

"What? How do you know about that?"

"It's amazing what's on the internet when you look hard enough. Now, as I was saying before you interrupted. I'm doing two things for you. In return, I want two things. Firstly, I want the bullying campaign against me to stop. You and your minions are also not to start on anyone else. Secondly, your Trigger event obviously broke something in you. So, you need counselling. The Wards program provides it free of charge. This is a onetime offer. Do both of these things and you'll be free to terrorise all the villains you want. Don't do one of them, and we'll see how quickly the PRT drops you. Personally, I think you should take the deal. While I hate you, and think you should be punished for the hell you put me through over this last year, your hero persona does do some good for the city. It can do more, though."

"You're bluffing. Out me, and the PRT will be on you like a tonne of bricks. And you don't have a video."

"Because outing Protectorate and Wards capes is illegal, I know. I'm not stupid enough to use your civilian name. As for the video... are you sure want to bet against that? There are several ways I could have acquired a camera to film this whole thing. Tinkers _do_ sell their wares, some of them quiet cheaply if you know where to look." I used my final personal essence motes to make myself more believable.

"Fine. You win, Hebert. You are still weak, but you aren't prey anymore," came her reply after a few minutes of silence. I could almost feel the anger radiating off her.

_Weak? Prey? Interesting responses there. More to think about later._ I thought as I continued speaking.

"It's not about winning, Sophia. It's about being a decent person and doing what needs to be done to help the city," I said as I cleaned up the last of the crap from my locker, feeling giddy as the hell I had been put through was finally _over_. "Now, let's get those notes from Mr Gladly. I don't know about you, but I really want a shower after that."

We walked to the staff room. Well, I glided as my _Dexterity Augmentation_ still active, and Sophia _stalked_ her way there. As we left, I reminded Sophia of our deal, and then, due to the relief and adrenalin in my system, sprinted home. I sent a quick email to Sophia, containing a video to prove that, yes, I could take her down, and then had a quick shower and put my clothing in the wash, and jogged back to school, only stopping to buy a can of industrial strength anti-odorant for my locker.

The rest of my day went well. Sophia confined herself to death-glares, Emma kept staring at me with a wounded look, and the other girls in their clique were looking at me curiously, no doubt wondering what sort of blackmail I had over Sophia to get her to make them back off. Sure, there were probably going to be repercussions, and my plans had to change to take into account this new variable, but I didn't care. One way or another, it was _over._


	3. Chapter 3

Worm is owned by Wildbow, and Exalted is owned by White Wolf Games Studio.

"This is talking"

_This is thinking._

_(These are technical terms being fed by Taylor's Exaltation)._

_Charm/Artifact/Thaumaturgy Names._

/

The next several weeks went by quickly. I internalised the computer knowledge in my _Sixth Intelligence Augmentation_, and swapped it for one containing _Thaumaturgical_ rituals, practical sciences and engineering. Using the information in my new charm and some high quality paper, I spent several hours drawing up a (_ward_) that would send an alarm back to me if anyone opened my locker. I also drew up several _wards_ that I placed around the house that would inform me if anyone other than my dad or myself entered the house. I did try to draw up designs to warn me if parahumans approached, but they seemed to be missing _something. _I also continued to make more money on the stockmarket, most of which I re-invested. What I didn't, though, I spent on a desk, a workbench and a weight machine for the basement. I also bought a number of useful supplies, such as cable-ties that I (_enchanted_) to be as strong as steel, a chemistry set including glassware, and paid some of the bills around the house. Dad did try to argue with the latter, but finally relented when I pointed out how much money I was making. I also forced myself to pick up a cheap pre-paid phone. I didn't like it – memories of my mother's accident were still fresh in my mind several years later – but it would make my dad feel better knowing I could contact the police or PRT if required.

As for school, it had become... bearable. It still wasn't enjoyable, but my tormentors had backed off. Also, between the fact that my assignments weren't being destroyed before I could hand them in and my improved abilities, my marks had sky-rocketed. The whispering behind my back died off somewhat, though I still didn't have any friends.

After about a month, I decided that I was ready to go on patrol. During the previous night, I had swapped my _Fifth Intelligence Excellency_ and _Sixth Intelligence Excellency_ for my two combat charms. I assured my dad I would be fine, grabbed a backpack and then jogged to the Docks. This part of town had been partially abandoned when it became cheaper to move shipping through New York instead of Brockton Bay. Shortly after this happened, the gangs had moved in. There were three main gangs in the city. The first was called the Azn Bad Boys (or ABB) and only accepted Asians, though the member's exact nationality didn't matter. The second was called Empire Eighty-Eight (or E88) were Neo-Nazis, and were probably the strongest gang in the city, having the largest number of parahumans. The final major gang was the Merchants. They were considered the weakest, if most chaotic, of the three main gangs, as many of their members were drug-addicts.

As I approached the docks, I ducked into an abandoned building. After making sure there was no-one around, I stripped down to a tank top and black jeans, deactivated my _Integrated Artefact Transmogrifier_ and activated my _Transcendant Multimodal Artefact Matrix_ to create my costume. I shivered as it unfolded out of my body with an unnerving clacking noise, before settling around me in a comforting embrace. Wrapped around my body was a synthetic leather _Reinforced Buff Jacket_. Looking like a trench-coat, it was jet black in colour, with a small pattern in the shape of a bronze gear overlaid with a set of scales on the left breast and a larger version of the design on the back. The soulsteel plates set inside it provided armouring. On my face was an ivory _Mask_. Initially pale ivory in colour, I concentrated for a moment and darkened it to black with bronze highlights, to match my armour. A belt under my armour, with a small pouch containing my phone and enchanted cable ties completed my costume. Fully armoured and disguised, I placed the rest of my clothing into backpack, which I then hid. Finally ready, I noted where the building was located and then started to wander around the docks in a semi-random search pattern. I also set up the same online recording program I had used on Sophia, for when I encountered anything.

Nearly an hour later, I still hadn't found anything even remotely illegal. I was beginning to wonder if I should have made better plans, when I heard a rumbling voice from around the corner.  
"When we find those fucking children, only the pretty bitch lives. We're gonna sell her in Hong Kong. The other three, they die," the voice said, and was answered by several other voices.  
_Oh, crap,_ I though, and started charging essence into my _Fifth Dexterity Augmentation_, causing it to glow and boosting my reflexes to superhuman levels. With no need for subtlety, I used essence from my peripheral pool, and so thick smoke started pouring out of me. I then charged around the corner, unfolding the final item in my _Artefact Matrix_, a six food long soulsteel _Wrackstaff_, into my hands with a clacking noise and my anima to burst into full iconic glory. As I did, my eyes widened – before me stood six people in the colours of ABB and a man wearing a grilled mask that looked like freaking _Lung_. I knew I had to take Lung down before he could change, so I let my _Sixth __Dexterity_ _Augmentation_ take over, my thought taking on a detached quality as it did.  
As the nearest ganger was still facing away from me, I swung my staff like a hockey stick, slamming it into the back of his legs. There was a _crack_ as the bones broke, and he started to collapse with a scream, and essence trickled into me from my weapon. As he was falling, I spun, using the momentum to slam my staff into the arm of the man next to him, shattering the arm and stopping him from drawing his gun, and more essence trickled into me. The four remaining normals, swearing in various languages, started backing away and drawing various weapons. Lung, however, roared and charged towards me, silvery scales starting to unfold on his skin. Spinning my staff to block his punch, I quickly dumped essence into my _Electrification Onslaught Dynamo_. My body tingled as, dark green electricity flaring out of my body, I slammed the blunt end of my staff into his chest, knocking him onto his back with a _crack_ as the electricity grounded itself through him. Seeing this, three of the normals ran, while the fourth panicked and started firing his gun wildly at me. Most of the bullets missed, though one did hit but, between my _Buff Jacket_ and _Exoskeletal Armour_, my only response was a grunt as it hit. And then the gun clicked, empty. Grinning savagely behind my mask, I ran over to him and slammed my staff into his arm as he tried to reload. As with his fellow gang member, his arm shattered and he dropped his gun with a scream of agony. I started to relax, thinking everyone was down, only to hear an inhuman _roar_ from behind me. Spinning, I saw Lung charging towards me, silver scales now covering the top third of his body.  
_Crap. Regeneration!_ I thought, remembering the research I had done on the local parahumans. Moving away from the non-cape gang member, I batted his arm away as he tried to claw me, and slammed my staff into his still human knees, shattering them. As he fell, I charged my _Electrification Dynamo_ again, and slammed my staff into his back, the _cracks_ of the electricity and his spine breaking merging into a single, sickening sound.  
"Stay. Down." I panted. He growled at me again, and tried to push himself up, so I smacked him in the head and put another charge of electricity into him, finally knocking him out.  
_That was insane._ I thought, starting to shake as the adrenalin wore off. _Each one of those shocks should have knocked out a full grown man.  
_I stood there for another minute or so, before grabbing the cable ties out of my belt-pouch and using them to tie Lung's arms up. Due to his powers, I put five on his arms, hoping that they would be enough. As I stood up, someone started clapping. Spinning around, I saw that I was being watched by four people in costumes, who were standing in front of three giant dog-monster things. The one clapping was a guy wearing a renascence fair costume, with a white mask and a crown. Next to him was another guy, wearing leathers and a motorbike helmet with wisps of darkness leaking out it, and a girl wearing a plastic dog's mask and hoodie. The final member of the group was wearing a skin tight purple jester's suit, with a domino mask and a look of abject _horror_ on her face as she stared at my staff. They were all shielding their eyes from the glow of my anima banner.  
_The Undersiders._ I thought, remembering what I had read on the internet. _They're_ _new cape villains. A few minor robberies, and they go out of their way to avoid hurting people. Four of them, one pretty girl from what I can see. Lung's targets?  
_"Undersiders," I said, lowering my _Wrackstaff_ into a combat stance. "What do you want?"  
"To thank you!" the girl in the jester's outfit said quickly, holding her hands up in a pacifying gesture, the absolute _fear_ evident in her voice. "Yes, we're villains, but Lung would have killed us if you hadn't stepped in. We really, _really _don't want to fight you!"  
_According to the internet, she's called Tattletale, and the others are Regent, Grue and Hellhound._ I thought, as I lowered my staff. _But... why is Tattletale so scared? The internet didn't have anything concrete about her powers.  
_Her companions all looked at her, as if they were surprised at her response. I couldn't be sure, however, what with their full face masks.  
"Umm, yeah. What she said," Grue, the guy in leather, said.  
"If you really want to thank me," I said, a spark of personal essence into my _First Manipulation Augmentation_ threading subharmonics into my voice, "you should stop robbing people and start helping them. Become heroes, and save other people. I think that would be a decent payment for saving your lives."  
"Yep, we'll get right onto that. Ooh, look at the time. The Protectorate is under five minutes away. Gotta go. K thanks, bye!" Tattletale replied, quickly moving to one of the dog-monsters and getting onto it. The two guys looked at each other and shrugged before turning away and climbing on the dog-monsters, while the girl with the dog mask, Hellhound, just grunted as she turned away.  
"See ya, Smokey!" Regent said with a wave as they left.  
_That was... strange. _I thought, looking in the direction they had gone. Shaking my head at their antics, I pulled out another cable tie. Looking around, I saw that the two gangers with broken arms had fled, while the one with broken legs was unconscious. Shrugging, I put the cable-tie around his hands. This done, I pulled out my phone and called the police. Under minute later, a motorbike being ridden by a man in high-tech armour approached. I recognised him from my research: Armsmaster, the head of the local Protectorate and a Tinker.  
"That was quick," I said, collapsing my staff as he turned off his motorbike. "I only just got off the phone to the police."  
"I was on my way already," He said curtly, looking around. He did a double-take when he saw Lung on the ground, bound by cable-ties. "Who are you and what happened?" he demanded.  
"Umm, I was patrolling around the docks. I heard someone say they were going to kill three kids, and sell a fourth. So I ran around the corner to stop them. There were four others, but they got away while I was fighting Lung, even if I did break the arms of two of the ones the ones that ran. 'Scuse me." I said, moving over to where Lung was waking up, putting another jolt into him and causing my anima banner to flare again.  
"Well, that explains what causes that then," Armsmaster muttered, looking at the two story tall Lady Justice that appeared out of the smoke bellowing out of me.  
"Turns out the people he was after were the Undersiders. They ran just before you arrived. One of them, Tattletale, seemed to know you were on your way? Anyway, umm, this is my first night out, so... what do we do now?" I asked.  
"Let me get this straight. Your first night out, and you take out Lung?"  
"Yeah. Thing is, his power takes time to get up to full power. I just had to hit him hard and quick. Oh, and we'll need an ambulance. I think I broke his back, and I know I broke that guy's legs," I said, pointing to the other person.  
Armsmaster looked at me for a moment, and then nodded, turning away and raised his hand to his helmet, and then started muttering.  
"The PRT will be here in a few minutes. Now, you obviously want to be a hero. Why not join the Wards? We could use someone as strong as you, and by joining, not only will you have back up, but you'll get training, equipment, and workshop room if you need it. You'll also be paid, though, as a Ward, most of the pay will go into a trust fund," he said, turning back to me.  
"I might. First, though, I have a question to ask their leader, Aegis. Depending on his answer, I will have a ... demand, I suppose you could say. Though, if I get the answer I hope, it'll be minor and easy to accommodate. But, umm, the glowing takes several hours to go down. Do you mind if I go to the PRT headquarters? It'll be cleaner than going into an abandoned building."  
"Ok. And your name?"  
"I haven't chosen one yet."  
"...ah."  
We then waited for the PRT in an awkward silence until the PRT arrived five minutes later. When they arrived, I got a lift to their headquarters, where I was led to a spare office. The first thing I did was call my dad, and let him know what had happened and that I was safe. I then spent some time putting my thoughts down, writing in an online document reader I had found. That done, I then spent time mucking around on the internet until my anima receded sufficiently. One thing that amused me was, even though it had been under an hour, there was already a discussion thread about me on the Parahuman Online boards. Also, periodically someone would duck in and see if I needed anything.

As I left the PRT headquarters, I was given a card by Armsmaster and I promised to go to the Protectorate headquarters in the morning. I then ran the short distance to where I had left my clothing, where I deactivated my _Artefact Matrix_ and reactivated my _Artefact Transmogrifier_. I got dressed, and slipped out of the building, and then jogged home. As Dad was still awake when I got there, I re-assured him I was fine, had a shower, swapped my around some of my charms and then went to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Worm is owned by Wildbow, and Exalted is owned by White Wolf Games Studio.

"This is talking"

_This is thinking._

_(These are technical terms being fed by Taylor's Exaltation)._

_Charm/Artifact Names._

/

After breakfast the next morning, I made my way down to the Docks. Again, I ducked into an abandoned building and activated my costume. This time, however, I took the backpack with my clothes with me. By 10am, I was on the ferry to the Protectorate headquarters. Located on an oil rig that had been moved into the centre of the bay, it was imaginatively known as "The Rig" by locals. However, from what I had read, it had been heavily modified by the world's best Tinker, Dragon. 

The ferry ride was odd as all the tourists were taking photos of me, and the PRT and Protectorate workers were looking at me with interest. I must admit, the attention felt nice.

As I stepped off the ferry, a lady in a Protectorate blazer and long blond hair came over to me.  
"Hi," she said. "Umm, I'm sorry, but Armsmaster didn't tell me your name. He only gave me your description, and that you would be turning up this morning some time."  
"Yeah, I don't have an 'official' cape name yet," I said.  
"Ahh, ok then. Anyway, my name is Kristi, and the Director assigned me to smooth your transition into the Wards. If you could please follow me?" she responded, leading me out of the public section of the building via a set of doors that required a retina scan to open. "Now, Armsmaster mentioned you had a question for Aegis. Do you want to ask him your question straight away, or start filling out the paperwork?"  
"I would prefer to ask my question, as the answer will determine if I join the Wards now, or later." I answered.  
Nodding, she led me to an elevator. Being Tinker made, the elevator was silent and smooth as it rose through the building. We exited the elevator after several floors had passed, and Kristi led me to a conference room.  
"If you could please wait here, I'll give Aegis a call," she said. "Do you want anything to drink while you wait?"  
"I'm fine, thanks." I answered.  
Nodding, she left. A few minutes later, a teenager wearing a rust and silver costume with a shield emblem on the front entered.  
"Lady Justice? I'm Aegis," he said as he entered, offering his hand for me to shake. "Armsmaster said that you had a question for me, and a possible demand before you entered the Wards? I must warn you, as you aren't a Ward yet, I'm limited in what I can legally answer, though I will try to help where I can."  
"Lady Justice? That fits for a name, I suppose," I said, shaking his hand, and then sitting down. "It is different from what I was going to choose, but it is probably better. As for whether you can answer the question or not, I understand. It is a fairly simple question, though. Is Shadow Stalker getting counselling?"  
"Umm, what?" he asked as he sat down, obviously thrown by my question.  
"Is Shadow Stalker getting counselling?"  
"Yeah, she is. She came to me several weeks ago, and asked me to set it up. Why?"  
"Good. As for why, I'm afraid that's private. Don't worry though, it'll only affect the Wards if she makes it affect the Wards. As for my demand, it is this: I will never be alone with Shadow Stalker, and my contact with her will be minimised."  
"O...kay. I suppose I can work with that. May I ask why?"  
"Due to a promise I made, I'm not going to give you the full details. Suffice to say, our civilian personas _really_ don't get along. But so long as she leaves me alone, I will be civil towards her. You should probably let her know this before we meet. Tell her 'I'll keep my end of the deal if you keep your's'."  
"You know her civilian identity?"  
"Yeah, I found it out by accident several weeks ago. Don't worry; I'll keep it a secret."  
"Oh. Umm, great? Is there anything else?"  
I thought for a second.  
"I can't think of anything. By the way, thanks for taking the time to do this. I should probably go find Kristi and get that paperwork." I said standing up.  
"It's the least I could do for someone who can defeat a villain as strong as Lung," he said, standing up and waving me to sit back down. "As for Kristi, her office is on the way to the elevator. I'll send her in with the paperwork."  
I sat back down, and watched him leave.  
_Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.__ And he seemed ok. Maybe a bit out of his depth, though._ I thought as I waited. Under a minute later, Kristi came back in with a folder.  
"So you got the answer you wanted then? Good," she said. "Don't worry, I'm not going to pry. Now, as a Ward, we need your guardian's permission and their signatures. Is that ok?"  
"Yeah, so your website said," I said, pulling out my phone. "I'll just ring my dad and get him to come over."  
"Great! First, there are the forms you have to fill out," she said, pulling several pieces of paper from the folder. "I'll give you some privacy to call your dad. When you have finished, I'll take you up and introduce you to the Wards. At 1pm, you have a meeting with the Director. After that, you have power testing. I'll be in my office just down the hall to the right if you need anything, or when you've finished filling out the forms," she continued before standing up and leaving. I gave dad a quick call, and then started on the forms. Most of them were fairly simple questions, mainly asking for names, home addresses, next of kin, etc. The only difficult question was "what is your power?". I had to think about it for a moment, before filling it out. With a smile, I stood up and went to give the forms to Kristi.  
"Done all ready?" she said, taking the forms from me. "Well, let's get you up to the Loft to meet to the other Wards."  
She placed the forms in her top desk draw, locked it, and then led me to the elevator.

The elevator quickly rose to the top floor of the Rig. My nervousness grew as it ascended – was I putting myself into a situation like high-school? I knew that Shadow Stalker, Sophia Hess, was here. Had she somehow turned them against me, like she had with Emma? All too quickly, we reached the top and the doors opened, showing me a large room. There were several computers in one section, some sofas, a TV and coffee table in the centre, a fridge off to the side, and three other doors, one on each wall. The room was fairly bright as the roof was a tinted glass sky-light. Nudging me out of the elevator, Kristi called out.  
"Guys? Hey, guys? Come here for a minute," she said. "I'd like to introduce our newest Ward, Lady Justice. Lady Justice, these are half of our Wards. Hmm, we seem to be missing Aegis, Shadow Stalker and Gallant. Anyway, I'll let you guys get to know each other. Lady Justice, don't forget you have a meeting with the Director at 1pm. Have fun now!"  
With this said, she turned and entered the elevator, leaving me with the other heroes. There were three of them, a girl wearing a green and costume with a short dress, breastplate and and two guys, one wearing a white costume with animated clock faces and opaque facemask, and the other was wearing high-tech looking red and gold armour. From my research, I recognised them as Vista, Clockblocker and Kid Win.  
"Ummm... Hi?" I said, after a few seconds of silence.  
"Oh my god. You took the name I chose. That is so cool!" Vista said excitedly, taking off the green visor covering her eyes. "I'm Vista, or Missy if we're out of costume. These two are Clockblocker and Kid Win. You just missed Shadow Stalker and Aegis."  
_From what I read, she can warp space, allowing her to stretch or compress space.__ Huh, she looks younger than I expected. Maybe 12 or 13?_I thought as she introduced herself.  
"I'm Dennis. Trust me, you didn't miss anything with Shadow Stalker not being here," Clockblocker said, taking off his mask and then holding his hand out for me to shake. As I did, there was a brief glitch.  
"...ways use your powers on the new person?" Missy was yelling at Dennis.  
"Because I thought it would be funny?" he said, rubbing the back of his head and looking somewhat abashed.  
"Did you just use your power on me?" I asked, looking at Dennis. He and Missy jumped and looked at me.  
"10 seconds. You were only under for 10 seconds." Dennis said. "That is... wow. I expected at least a minute."  
"Please don't do that again." I said. "I deal with enough crap at school. I don't need it here."  
"Sorry! Sorry," he said, before mumbling something. Meanwhile, Missy was waving her hand in front of Kid Win.  
"Hey Dennis, did you freeze Chris?" she asked.  
"What? No, why?" Dennis responded.  
"Because he isn't responding. Hey Chris, you in there?" she said, poking the teenager in his armoured shoulder.  
"It's... full of machines. They fit together, each module supporting the others. It's so beautiful," he said, sounding somewhat out of it. A second later he turned, and ran out the door on the north side of the room.  
"That... was odd. He's not normally like that, but it must be a Tinker thing as the workshops are in that direction. We're not giving a good showing, are we? I'm not sure what's up with Chris, but yeah. Sorry about Clockblocker being Clockblocker. Unfortunately, you'll have to get used to him," Missy said, moving towards the sofas and then sitting down. "I love your costume. It's amazing quality for someone just starting out. Did you make it yourself?"  
"Thanks! But no, it's one of my powers. Watch this." I said, dismissing my _Mask_ as I sat down, putting my bag next to me. The expression on their faces as it split in half and folded into the sides of my head was amusing. "I'm Taylor, by the way."  
"That was so cool! What _are_ your powers? Aegis didn't say when he grabbed Shadow Stalker and, well, Armsmaster is Armsmaster."  
"I'm a Trump, mainly. My powers cause me to grow upgrades that have various effects. I currently have a fair number of powers available, but I unfortunately I can't install them all at once. Other side effects include tougher skin, I can lift over two hundred pounds without problems, I can stop myself from bleeding with a bit of concentration, I heal faster, and I don't need to breathe any more. The only problem is that it takes hours to swap out my powers, during which I'm basically powerless. Oh, and if I use my powers a lot, I start to glow like you saw on those videos of last night."  
"So... like a lesser version of Eidolon?" Dennis asked, mentioning one of the members of the Triumvirate, the leaders of the Protectorate and one of the most powerful heroes in the world.  
"Hmm. Kind of, though, unlike Eidolon I can only choose between the same powers. I have a feeling I'll be able to learn other powers eventually, and possibly use more at a single time, but I'm not sure. There's still a lot I'm not sure about with my powers."  
"Wow. That's awesome. So, what can you do at the moment?" Missy asked.  
"The powers I have include one that allows me to summon my costume. It also allows me to summon a metal staff. I can get up to Thinker levels of intelligence and Mover levels of manual dexterity, I can make myself a master of any one or good at several tasks, and I can hide my powers so I look normal, though it does feel kind of weird if I do. Like I'm wearing too small clothing. Anyway, I also know kung fu, and I can turn my body into a Taser. Those two and the staff are what I used to take down Lung last night."  
"How _did_ you take down Lung, anyway?" Missy asked.  
"Surprise, mainly, allowing me to hit him hard and fast. I also put enough electricity into him to knock out several grown men. Due to the speed I hit him, I managed to knock him out before he had fully transformed."  
"So we've got a second meatshield, but this one can also put out massive damage. Those villains won't know what hit them." Dennis said, getting a slap upside the head and "Be nice" from Missy. The conversation quickly turned to inconsequential things. Just before midday Aegis entered the room. He introduced himself as Carlos, and mentioned that Gallant (or Dean) would be joining us for lunch.

About 10 minutes later three people, two girls and a guy, entered the room. They were all wearing costumes, and one of the girls was carrying several pizzas. As they entered, I felt as if I should like the one carrying the pizzas, but the feeling vanished an instant later.  
"We come bearing gifts!" cried the girl carrying pizzas. The costume she was wearing was a white dress, spiked tiara and a cape, all with gold accents. It was eye-catching, to say the least.  
_Glory Girl. Flight, strength, invulnerability, and an emotion modifying aura,_ I thought. _So that means the other girl is her sister Panacea, a healer. Both in New Wave.  
_"Oh, great," muttered Missy beside me. I gave her a questioning look, to which she grimaced slightly and shook her head. Shrugging, I turned back to the scene in front of me, where Carlos was frowning at Dean. Glory Girl seemed oblivious to the byplay around her, while her sister looked at the two boys and grimaced.  
"Vicky heard that you were welcoming a new Ward," she said, lowering the hood on her white robe and unwinding the scarf from around her head, "and that the new Ward took out Lung on her first night out. So she kind of invited us. I hope you don't mind?"  
"I suppose that's fine," Carlos said, shooting the silver-and-gunmetal powersuit clad boy a look that screamed _"we'll be talking about this later"_.  
"Great! So, I'm Glory Girl or Vicky," Vicky said, coming over and shaking my hand. "I love those crystals glued to your forehead! That must have taken ages to do properly."  
"Thanks, though they're part of my power," I said.  
"Oh. You aren't a Case 53, then?"  
"Case 53? As in, have my powers mutated my body and made me forget everything? No." I said.  
"Vicky, that's kind of rude. Anyway, I'm Panacea, or Amy," her sister said, coming over to us. "I hope you don't mind me not shaking your hand, but my power would read everything about your body, and most people value their privacy too much for that."  
"That's ok," I said, nodding to her and looking at the boy who had entered. "You must be Gallant, then?"  
"Yep, or Dean out of costume," he said, shaking my hand.  
"I'm Lady Justice," I said, "or Taylor. Nice to meet you."  
"Enough of that. Fooood." Dennis said in the background, opening up one of the pizza boxes. There was quiet for a bit, as seven hungry teenagers quickly made short work of the pizzas.  
"So, where's Chris?" Dean asked, looking around. Dennis laughed.  
"Apparently he thinks Taylor is beautiful and full of machines. I think she broke him, because he then ran to his workshop. We haven't seen him since," he said. Missy slapped him upside the head again.  
"Something about Taylor's powers reacted with his. It looked like he had one of those epiphanies that Tinkers have." Missy corrected.  
"Umm, I could check, if you want." Amy said, looking at me. "You know, check if you are really full of machines?"  
I thought about it for a moment. _It would be good to know more about me. But... I don't really know these people. They seem good, but... Sophia is one of them.  
_"Standard doctor/patient confidentiality?" I said.  
"Umm, sure. I can do that," she replied.  
"Ok, you can check me out later then." I said, causing Dennis to snort in amusement and Missy to slap him upside the head again. I groaned when I thought of what I had just said.  
"So, Lung. How did you take him out?" Vicky said, obviously unable to hold herself in any more. I groaned again.  
"You know, it'd be easier to show you," I said. "Anyone have an email I can send a video to?"  
"Sure." Missy said, rattling off an email and pulling out her phone. She blinked as the email arrived a second later, but she plugged her phone into a cable under the TV, and then loaded up the video.  
Part the way through the recording, a wave of awe swept through me. An instant later, my emotions... stopped and everything became clearer. More logical.  
"Vicky. Please don't do that." I said, my voice slightly flatter than normal.  
"Huh? What? You ok?" she said, turning around to look at me.  
"Your aura. Please don't do that."  
"Oh, sorry about that."  
"Please avoid using around me in the future. It reacts negatively with my power."  
"Umm, I don't really have much control over it."  
"Get some."  
"How? And why should I, if you're going to be rude."  
A brief burst of anger, quashed by logic. Electricity started to flicker around the studs of my _Fourth Intelligence Excellency_ as I dumped essence into it and thought about the problem. The display, and our argument, caused everyone to stop watching the video and look at us.  
"Meditation." I stated.  
"What?" Vicky replied, obviously confused by my non-sequitur.  
"Meditation. Learn to become calm. Control your emotions, control your aura. As for why, less chance of accidentally using it on someone. Could anger people, causing fights. Also unknown long term effects. Possibly similar to drug addiction?"  
"_What?!"  
_"Awe causes emotional high, despair emotional low. May become dependent on it, may modify behaviour. Pavlovian conditioning. Could experiment, but unethical."  
"Oh god," she said. It took me a moment to recognise the look on her face as horror as she took several steps back, and then turned and fled. Amy had a similar look, though that changed (to anger?) as she came over and swung her hand at me. Noting that she was going to slap me, I grabbed her wrist – tight enough that she couldn't move her arm, but not so tight that it would hurt her.  
"Why? Why would you say that to her? What did she do to you?" she yelled at me, trying to free her wrist.  
"Quickest way of resolving situation. Force her to acknowledge her actions. Need her email address, will give advice on meditation." I said, my voice a monotone, before letting her wrist go.  
"She was just trying to be friendly!" Amy yelled.  
"Using emotion control to force people to be friends is unethical. Causes backlash if found out. Still willing to help, despite this." I said. "Also less collateral damage if she is in control of herself."  
Amy growled at me, before running after her sister. If I had emotion, I probably would have found her growl kind of cute. After she left, there was silence for half a minute, during which the others stared at me.  
"Well, that was... something," Dennis said. "So, let me get this straight. Glory Girl uses her emotional aura accidentally. You tell her off, she gets angry, and projects it. Instead of getting angry back, you become robotic? You aren't going to lead some sort of machine uprising and use our bodies for batteries, are you?"  
"No. Inefficient." I said.  
"Oh, right, of course. Good." He replied. There was silence for a moment again.  
"So, what was that?" Aegis asked.  
"Stopped effects of her emotion control by replacing emotions with logic. Automatic process, appears to be part of powers. Probably temporary, but unknown. First time it has happened." I said.  
"Your powers are _weird_." Dennis complained.  
"Useful though, if we encounter any emotional Masters." Carlos countered. "Sure, the side effects could be irritating, but they won't be so bad now that we know about it."  
Conversation died away again.  
"So... those crystals around your head are glowing. What's up with that?" Missy asked me.  
"Boosting intelligence." I said.  
"Oh. Huh," She replied. There was silence for a bit longer.  
"Bah. This is boring. I'm going to play computer games." Dennis said. With this, everyone else drifted away. I used the opportunity to use an online document writer start writing up a plan to help Vicky get control over her aura. It must have looked strange, as about 5 minutes later Missy came over to me.  
"You ok there?" she asked.  
"Yes. Writing plan for Vicky." I said.  
"O...k. Ummm, how? You aren't using the computers."  
"Internal internet access. Using WebWord."  
"Huh. You have permanent internet connection? That is cool. Weird, but cool."  
"Useful." I agreed.  
"Just... don't tell Dennis. He'd probably start joking about the internet being for porn, or something like that," she said. She then stood up, and used her power to warp over to one of the doors. A few seconds later, she came back, sat down and started reading the book she had gotten. Just before 1pm, a light above the elevator door turned on.  
"Masks on, people!" Carlos called out, putting his mask on. The others followed suit, so I activated my _Artifact Matrix_ and unfolded my mask. Doing so did cause my soulgem to start glowing, and smoke to start wafting from my shoulders.  
"Whenever the light above either of the elevators turns on, it means that someone is coming and that you need to put your mask on," Vista said, first pointing to the light that was glowing above the elevator, and then to a light set in the same spot above the door in the opposite wall. She then slapped her face. "Crap. I forgot. We were supposed to show you around. The door that Chris went through has the workshops available to us," she said, pointing to the door in the northern wall. "Normally only Tinkers need them, but you can get apply for one if you want. The door on the opposite wall has our personal rooms. We've each got a bed and shower through there, though none of us live on base. We mainly only use them if we've got a late patrol, or to store our civilian clothes."  
By this time, the elevator had arrived. The door opened and Kristi stepped out and walked towards us.  
"Hey Lady Justice. Ready for your meeting with the Director?" she said cheerily. I nodded once.  
"I'll put your bag in your room, if you want?" Vista said, pointing at the bag I had brought with me. Again I nodded, starting to go towards the elevators.  
"Hey, before we go, I've got your Official Wards Phone." Kristi said, handing me a box. "It is Tinker Tech, so it's better than anything in the market. The manual is inside the box, if you need it. There is also your official Parahumans Online user name, your initial password, your Wards computer details, and the Wards handbook."  
I placed the box in my bag, and gave my bag to Vista, and then entered the elevator. Once inside, Kristi pressed one of the buttons.  
"Sooo. What do you think?" she said once the doors had shut. I thought for a moment, before responding.  
"They have potential." I said.  
"Ummm, are you ok?" she said. For some reason, she seemed... disappointed?  
"Yes."  
"Just... you are speaking in a monotone. Clockblocker didn't do anything too bad to you did he?"  
"No. Reaction to Glory Girl's emotion aura. New power."  
"Huh," she said.  
I waited in silence until we reached our floor and the doors opened. Kristi then led me down a corridor, and into an office. The person in the office waved me past, and I entered a door labelled "E. Piggot". Inside were several chairs around a table, and a desk covered in paperwork. Behind the desk was an overweight woman, who looked up from her paperwork as I entered her office.  
"So. Lady Justice," she said. I stood there, looking at her. There was silence for a moment, and then her eyes narrowed.  
"Are you trying to play games with me, young lady?" she said.  
"No." I stated. There was silence again.  
"Hmph. Sit down, then," she replied. I moved one of the chairs in front of her and sat down. "So, you stated that your main power is a Trump power. Please explain it for me."  
"Ability to install various powers. Powers have a technological appearance, based around upgrades to my body. Tougher than baseline human. Immune to emotion control, but doing so reduces emotions. Unknown duration, probably temporary. Takes five hours to swap powers, during which time I lose all my powers other than toughness."  
"You noted down that you have Tinker abilities?"  
"Closest approximation." I said, pulling out one of my enchanted cable ties and handing it to her. "Can increase toughness of materials. Can also create designs that act as alarms. Can't explain better now, as module is not installed. Planning on learning other rituals."  
"These would be the cable ties that you used on Lung last night. We needed bolt cutters to remove them. They need to be reviewed like all other Tinker Tech, but if given the materials, how quickly can you produce these?"  
"Several per hour. Able to teach others."  
"You can teach other Tinkers how to do these... rituals, you called them?"  
"Misunderstood. Not just Tinkers. Possibly anyone. They will require more equipment than me, but should be able to do so."  
"What."  
I thought for a moment, and tried to answer the question she had just asked. Strangely, as I spoke to the Director, I could feel my emotions creeping back into me. It felt... comforting?  
"The power that allows me to do that just gives me knowledge. I _think_ I can teach people this knowledge. However, as I don't currently have it installed, I'm not sure because I don't currently have that knowledge." I said, my voice starting gain inflection as I spoke. However, that inflection caused her to frown at me.  
"You aren't speaking in a monotone anymore. Why?" she demanded.  
"I think that what-ever happened to block Glory Girl's emotion aura has started to wear off? Well, that answers the question of whether it is temporary or not. I'm glad, as I'm feeling human again." I said. The Director looked at me steadily for several seconds, during which I started to squirm under her gaze.  
"Any other surprises for me?" she said.  
"Ummm, I think I'll get more powers over time?" I said. "And I think I caused Kid Win to have some sort of Tinker epiphany."  
"What."  
"I'm sorry! I didn't do anything, he just looked at me, and then ran to his workshop!"  
She looked at me steadily, a tick appearing above her right eye.  
"Just... fine. I want you to confirm if you can teach your Tinker abilities. Also, put in the paperwork and I'll assign you a workshop. All Tinker designs have to go into the data base. That includes those 'rituals' you use. The details are in your hand book. If she hasn't already, Kristi will give it to you. Now. Shadow Stalker. Explain."  
"I can't really explain in detail, as I made a deal with her. I will say that our civilian personas don't get along. However, as I told Aegis, I will be civil with her if she leaves me alone. Though, I refuse to be alone with her."  
"I will be holding you to that. Now, is there anything else I should know?"  
"Yes ma'am. I didn't mention it to Aegis as I didn't think he would have the authority, but I'd like to swap to Arcadia High with most of the rest of the Wards. I realise that I can't do it this year, as it is too soon to me joining the Wards, but I would like to get away from Winslow."  
She looked at me for a moment, obviously weighing things up in her head.  
"Don't give me any problems, and you should be able to. Anything else?"  
"No ma'am."  
"Good. Kristi will show you to the testing area."  
I stood up at this obvious dismissal, put my chair back to where I had gotten it and left her office. I smiled at Kristi as she looked at me. She grinned back at me.  
"Not so scary, was it?" she said.  
"No, it wasn't." I agreed.  
"Hey, you're sounding human again!"  
"Yeah. I'm glad that it was only temporary."  
"That's great! Anyways, power testing with Miss Militia. If you could please follow me?" she said, starting back towards the elevator. This time, the floor we were going to was the bottom of the rig. On the way, a woman wearing a stylised army uniform, a scarf and a sash, both patterned with the American flag, and a large knife tucked into her sash, entered the elevator.  
"Lady Justice," the woman said with a faint eastern European accent, offering me her hand.  
"Miss Militia," I replied, shaking her hand. _According to the internet, her power allows her to create weapons from nothing. I wonder what the limits are? _I thought.  
"Great! I'll leave you two to it. Have fun, ok?" Kristi said, pressing the button for the next floor down and then getting out of the elevator.  
"So, as you would have been told, I will be running your power testing," Miss Militia said. "Anything I should know?"  
"Umm, I don't actually have all my combat powers installed. I have another power that gives me an armour layering, but I swapped that power out last night."  
"Oh?" she said.  
I gave her the same explanation of how my powers worked as I had already given several times today. After this, she nodded.  
"Ok, if you could please install it and your Tinker power tonight, we'll do the last tests tomorrow. Also, we'll put your biometrics into the system today instead of tomorrow as they involve taking blood samples and similar."

The next several hours involved me going through a battery of tests, showing them what I could do with my powers, quickly caused my anima banner to flare to Iconic. Once she heard about my knowledge of various martial arts due to my _Sixth Dexterity Augmentation_, Miss Militia had me show her some katas. After two of them, she asked if she video them, and give the video to a martial artist that she knew. Apparently my style was unlike any she had seen. Running through all of my katas took at least an hour. We then sparred, after which Miss Militia had a revelation for me: apparently I have a fear aura that slowed her reactions. Strangely, it only affected her when we were sparing. Of course, this brought up unpleasant thoughts due to my discussion with Glory Girl earlier in the day. I knew I would have to apologise, and work out what causes my own aura to activate. The only other thing of note was the blood tests – the doctor had to use a "Brute" rated needle, and when he drew the blood it was mixed with some sort of glowing oily substance. Because of this, he took several extra vials, and informed me I should eat lots of red meat over the next several days. They also collected several of the flakes of soulsteel and tried to capture a sample of the smoke that I was emitting.

After the testing was complete, I returned to the Loft.  
"Gah, bright!" Dennis said as I entered. "Warn me about that, and I'll wear sunglasses!"  
"Sorry! I just had power testing," I apologised to him.  
"Well, how did it go?" Missy said, shading her eyes.  
"Trump, Brute 2, Shifter 2, Breaker 2, Master 1."  
"Wow, that's quite a spread. But Master 1?"  
"Yeah. Turns out I have a fear aura that affects anyone who attacks me."  
"Huh. Dennis was right, your powers are weird."  
"Of course I was right!" Dennis said. "Hey, you're sounding normal again!"  
"Yeah, during my discussion with Director Piggot I started feeling human again."  
"Wait, dealing with Piggy made someone _human_? Damn your powers are weird."  
I frowned as he insulted the Director. _Too tired. I'll deal with that later._ I thought.  
"Hey, mind showing me where my room is? I'll go there until my anima goes down, so that I'm not blinding you," I said.  
"Sure. Follow me," Missy replied. She led me through the southern door. On the other side was a corridor with a number of rooms coming off it. Six of the doors had names engraved on them.  
"I put you in the room next to mine. I hope you don't mind," she said, leading me to one of the blank doors.  
"Cool," I said. "I don't mind."  
"Great!" she said, opening the door. Inside was a small room, with a bed, a desk with a computer, a wardrobe, and another door, through which I could see a small bathroom. My bag had been placed in the middle of the bed.  
"To claim the room, you need to place your hand on the panel behind the door. It'll sync the room to your biometrics. Once that's done, it'll only open for you, or if the Director gives someone permission to open it. There are a whole load of extra rules, but they're in that handbook that Kristi gave you," Missy said.  
"Thanks for all this." I told her.  
"Hey, friends help each other, right? And it's great to have another girl on the team!"  
_Friends, huh? Been a while since I had one. _I thought.  
"What about Sophia?" I said.  
"Pft. That would have involved her trying to be part of the team. Anyways, I'm gonna let you get settled in and stop glowing. Later!"  
"Ok, bye."  
Once Missy left, I placed my hand on the panel behind the door. To check, I opened my door. Sure enough, the _'Lady Justice'_ was now engraved on the door. Smiling, I called Dad to let him know when I'd be home. I then spent the next hour, setting my Parahumans Online account, checking my Wards emails, checking over my schedule for tomorrow, and playing with my new phone. It didn't take me long to gain root access to the OS in the phone, where I noticed there were several hidden programs – one to track the phone, and one that tracked what internet sites were visited, both of which appeared to have to be activated remotely. Frowning, I modified them so that if they were activated, before they sent any data, an email was sent to an address I set up. That done, I finished my email to Vicky, and settled down to read the handbook I had been given.

Several hours later, my anima banner had receded enough that I could leave. Doing so, I jogged home, stopping to pick up some take-out on the way. I was looking forward to bed. Tomorrow would be another big day.


	5. Chapter 5: Interlude 1

Worm is owned by Wildbow, while Exalted is owned by White-wolf games studio.

This chapter has a language/racism warning.

_Charm names_

_Alchemical Exalted names_

_**Interlude 1:**_

_**Responses and butterfly wings.**_

/

The blond girl spoke on her mobile.  
"Boss, there's no _way_ we can work with her. My power was telling me that she'll do _anything_ to meet her goals. Yes, it was telling me she's powerful, and yes, it was telling me that she'll only get more powerful. It was also telling me to get the fuck away from her."  
There was a pause.  
"Boss, my power was saying her staff is made from dead alien ghosts and titan hate! I don't even know what the hell that means! Fuck, it was telling me there was some of that stuff grafted to her body, and that was what was making us scared and slowing us down."  
There was another pause.  
"Boss, I don't think that'll work. Her power is... alien. Mechanistic. Fuck, I'm not explaining it properly. I hate to say this, but I need more time around her to get a handle on what my power is telling me."  
There was another pause.  
"You want my advice? Get us out of the villain game. Please, boss, I'm begging you."

/

The dark skinned girl in a black cape, face mask and body armour looked at her rust-and-silver-dressed "superior". Sure, he could take a beating and wasn't exactly prey, but he wasn't a proper predator like she was.  
"We've got a new Ward on our team. She knows your civilian identity, and doesn't seem to like you. However, she's willing to be civil to you if you are civil back. She also told me to say 'I'll keep my end of the deal if you keep up yours', whatever that means," he said.  
_What?_ She thought. _Oh, fuck me. That weak bitch __did __trigger__. Fuck!_

/

The blond girl sat on the roof, the light glinting off her golden tiara as she watched the sun set. A brown haired girl sat next to her.  
"Hey, Ames?" the blond girl said.  
"Yeah, sis?" her companion said.  
"I've... really screwed up this time, haven't I?"  
"It's not your fault."  
"... No. She was right. I've screwed up too many times. The only reason there hasn't been any fallout is because of you and mum. But I've hurt you this time. I..."  
There was a wave of despair from the blond girl. It seemed to affect her sister before it was quashed, as a tear rolled down the brown haired girl's cheek.  
"Look... I'll drop you off at home. I... need time alone to think, for a change." The blond girl said. At her sister's nod, she picked her sister up and flew off.

/

The crazed looking half-Asian woman was screaming at the man in front of her. All the others in the room were backing away in fear.  
"So we break him out!" she screamed.  
"_How_? He's one of the most powerful villains in the city," he replied, starting to lose his temper as the argument had been going for some time now. "The security will be tighter than ever before."  
"Blow the fucking place up!"  
"... that's your solution? And if that doesn't work?"  
"More explosives! The _farang_ won't know what hit 'em!"  
"Fine. Whatever. Just make sure you've got enough bombs."  
"Stop complaining. It'll be a bang, un!"  
There was a beat of silence.  
"How does he put up with you again?"  
"Sh... shut up!"  
There were several explosions, interspersed by the man's mocking laughter.

/

The thin, dirty man muted the TV and called out to his scantily clad girlfriend.  
"Hey babe! Get your shit together. Some goody-two-shoes took out that cunt-eyed lizard! We're goin' shopping!"  
"Yay! I wanna get some new ear-rings!" came the reply from the workshop in the next room over.  
"Sure thing, babe!"  
The dirty man picked up his phone. It was high quality, despite the fact that he was currently living in a squalid mess.  
"Oi, shit-for-brains. Get the crew together," he said when his call was answered.  
The person on the other end said something.  
"I don't give a fuck that you've got some bitch sucking your dick. We're going shopping, and babe needs some new ear-rings!"  
There was more mumbling from the other end of the phone.  
"So pick up a new fuckdoll while we're out! I'm sure you can find some slit-eyed bitch who'll love you long time."  
The thin, dirty man hung up, took a drag on his "cigarette", and then stood up and went into the next room where his girlfriend was. Soon, giggling and then moans coming from the workshop.

/

The well built man in a white suit looked out of the window of his office. In the background, the news played. He pulled out his phone, and dialled a number.  
"Tell everyone to get off the streets," he said when the phone was answered.  
The person on the other end said something.  
"Firstly, because the Tinker will be the one in charge, and she's insane. Even though they're only chinks, you can expect them to at least try to free him. And with her in charge, who knows what they're going to do? Secondly, the PRT may use this as a chance to 'clean up the streets'. Thirdly, because I told you to. Now, are you going to do what I say or not?"  
There was another break as the person on the other end said something.  
"Good. See that you do."  
The well built man hung up. He then brushed his hand on the silver "88" pinned to his lapel.

/

The teenager, still clad in his armour, worked feverishly. He could see the designs in his mind, all whirring gears, sparking crystals and crackling lightning. Soon, he would be amazed, as normally he could only focus long enough to build a small part of the designs before he got distracted by something shiny, and his designed were generally less... inspired. Now, however, thought was drowned out by the siren call of the design as he used an engraver to etch a pattern into a piece of metal.

/

The dark haired woman stumbled as she walked down the corridor, before clutching her head and collapsing to the ground. Standing up a minute later, her eyes widened.  
_Why does the Plan have several thousand more steps?_ She thought to herself. _And... what the hell? I really need to speak to Doctor Mother about this! _

/

The clay-and-metal woman floated in the liquid filled glass tube, the hum of the _Vats Complex_ comforting her. The _Breachhead_ that had been set up in _Patropolis of Ot _had opened to a lump of unrefined metals and clay surrounded by water. There was nothing like it in Autochthon! Luckily, the "island" as it was apparently called, had been uninhabited. This was good, as it meant they wouldn't be using the plans that some of the, heh, _excessively_ _righteous_ of them had pushed for. Rather than sweeping in and taking everything, as if they were some sort of Estasian barbarians, they would be seeking out the natives and seeing if there was anything they could trade. Not only that, but the waiting list had finally reached her and she was finally able to be refitted. Soon she'd be able to visit the old world, helping to negotiate for her country. The fact that she'd be visiting new societies and using their building styles to revolutionise her own designs was wholly coincidental.  
As she was thinking about everything that had happened recently, a Charm's description caught her eye. The Charm itself was new, and hadn't been there when she was last being refitted.  
_What in the Maker's name is an Internet?_ The architect thought to herself, brushing her short silvery hair from her eyes, exposing a rectangular green gem set in her forehead. Shrugging, she installed the Charm out curiosity.


End file.
